Getting smarter about the smart grid. Standards group to tackle interoperability.

OASIS (aka the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is forming a new committee that will focus on creating Web services models for things such as exchanging dynamic pricing, reliability and emergency signal alerts across the smart grid.

The group is called the OASIS Energy Interoperation Technical Committee. The group will build on the Open Automated Demand Response Communications Standards (OpenADR), which were donated by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Demand Response Center. Co-chairs are William Cox of Cox Software Architects, and David Holmberg of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Refreshingly, the formation of this group has drawn a show of support from Microsoft, which was previously at odds with OASIS on this issue. (The person who is in charge of the Microsoft Hohm project will be involved.) Other early supporters include TIBCO, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CPower, EnerNOC and Grid Net.

This link will lead you to more details about the new committee.